The following article is a list of 10 features that will indirectly help you make money from your blog. This is not a list of 10 ways to monetize your blog with advertisements, sponsors, affiliate programs or anything like that. The items on this list will help you get the maximum benefit from the traffic your blog already receives. Successful blogs don’t rely on readers performing one specific action, such as clicking an advertisement; they have a variety of positive actions they want each visitor to perform.
1) Email/Twitter/Newsletter It is essential that you include an icon requesting your visitors to follow you on RSS, email and Twitter. Typically, most blogs have an RSS feed, but nowadays, it is important to give your visitors a variety of ways that they can follow your posts. Often the majority of blog traffic does not come directly to the homepage, so having a variety of feeds is important for driving traffic to your main page. A monthly newsletter lets you update your readers regarding special events, promotions and changes. Once you have a large following for your newsletter, you can include advertisements within it for additional revenue.
2) Be my Friend Request There is no doubt that social media sites can drive huge amounts of traffic to your blog. Most bloggers submit their articles to these sites, but do not receive the amount of traffic that is often talked about. The reason you may not receive a lot of traffic from Digg might not be because your articles are not well written and insightful. The reason could be because you do not have enough authority on social media sites. How do you get extra pull on sites like Digg? The answer is you have to have friends, and lots of them. One way to increase the amount of friends you have on these types of sites is by placing a widget on your site requesting visitors to friend you on social media sites. As you gain a larger following on Digg, and other sites; it will easier for your articles to increase in popularity, driving huge amounts of traffic to your site.
3) Forward this to a Friend Articles are the heart of your blog, and how much money you make depends on how many people read your articles. This makes getting your articles circulating the internet your top priority. So at the bottom of each article, you should not only include a request for your reader to follow you on RSS/email/twitter, but you should also include a box that allows the reader to forward the article to a friend. (via email) This helps get your articles circulating around the internet, increasing traffic and revenue.
4) Top Commentator Widget I highly recommend including the top commentator widget in your blog. If you are trying to create a friendly environment for your readers, you must entice them to comment by rewarding users that comment the most. Displaying this widget encourages participation and group discussion.
5) Related Post Widget /Recent Articles These are a must for any blog. When you receive a new visitor, the last thing you want is for him to read one article and exit your site. You need to encourage each visitor to stay on your site for as long as possible. Having a list of related posts and recent articles is essential for doing this. The longer a visitor stays on your site, the more likely he will perform a positive action such as signing up for your RSS, checking out your advertisements, signing up for your newsletter, following you on Twitter, friending you on Digg etc.
6) Forum Discussion can only go so far in the comment section beneath your articles. If you want to take group discussion and participation on your blog to another level, you need to include a forum. One important rule of thumb for starting forums is to get a unique skin. One way to ensure that your forum will fail is by making one that looks the exact same as every other forum out there. Make sure that you spend a significant amount of time in your forum and that you help get the conversation started.
7) Google Search Your blog most likely has a search bar that allows users to search your site. Why not earn some extra income and include the option to search Google as well? Not only will this help your visitors out, it will bring in some additional revenue as well.
Contact Page This may seem obvious, but having a professional looking contact page is important. Networking with other bloggers is one of the keys to success in the blogging world. If other bloggers are unable to reach you, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities.
9) Archive Some visitors will find your articles so interesting, that they will spend hours on your site reading through all of the content you ever produced. You want to make it as easy as possible to do this, by providing visitors with an archive of all of your posts.
10) Community Display Make sure your blog has something that shows the different members of your community and asks each visitor to join your community. Creating a strong community will encourage more comments and will help create the kind of following your blog deserves.
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After reading through the article, I just feel that I need more info. Can you share some resources please?
My friend on Facebook shared this link with me and I’m not dissapointed that I came to your blog.
p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.
Hi,
Nice tips.
Thanks
All and all an excellent list but #7 “Google search” is what I believe to be the most important, as Google has the ability to deliver quality – organic visitors based on keyword search. these are people with the highest level of interest and from my experience are most likely to engage with your product or service offering.